1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to computer-implemented systems, and, in particular, to creation of customized trees.
2. Description of Related Art
In conventional systems, a file system may be represented with a tree. A tree is a hierarchical structure that shows the relationship of one object to another. Each object is represented as a node in the tree. For example, a folder object may “contain” (i.e., enclose) one or more folder objects, which contain one or more document objects. A user can access each object that is contained within another object by “drilling down” to that object. For example, to access a particular document object, the user first accesses the appropriate folder object that contains the document object.
However, in conventional systems, some of the objects in a tree are infrequently, or never, used by some users. In this case, the users may prefer not to see these particular objects. Instead, users may prefer to work with a small subset of the objects, rather than the entire tree. Additionally, in conventional systems, objects may not be ordered as a user desires. A user may wish to perform similar operations on several objects at the same time. The objects may, however, be located in disparate places across different branches of the tree. There is no convenient mechanism for conveniently viewing an arbitrary set of objects and operating on some or all of them while they are being viewed.
There is a need in the art for improved trees.